Bloodbourne
by E.V.A.Graebel
Summary: Sequel to 'No Pulse'. Not human, not vampire, not Daywalker. Meg is caught between two worlds and the realization that her choices might change the course of the war. Please review. UPDATED AND FINISHED.
1. Chapter 1

**BLOOD-BOURNE**

* * *

This is a sequel to "No Pulse".

Characters from Blade, Blade II, and Trinity do not belong to me.

* * *

She wakes screaming. Disorientation. Confusion. Half-dark. She fumbles for a weapon as the door cracks open. "Blade?" It's hesitant as though she doesn't expect him to be there. 

"It's King."

She blinks fiercely until things start to gain some clarity. It's not an easy change, these dreams are rough on her and absolutely terrifying, so bad that she doesn't remember anything but the fear afterwards -and the taste of blood in the back of her mouth. As Meg's eyesight clears she can see Hannibal's form as he stands there hesitantly.

"You okay?"

"Yeah." But Meg's voice doesn't convince him and he enters her room. His weight bows the mattress as he sits next to her, close enough for comfort but not touching. Meg swings her legs over the side and leans against him as all the memories crash back against her.

It all started with a bite, that much she remembers clearly, and the process of turning. Whistler would have killed her but Blade insisted that she live even when the cure didn't work and they couldn't change her back. She'd become his link to the vampire world and he'd convinced her that she could do good in either form.

Blade just hadn't counted on the interference of Danica Talos or the resurrection of Drake, the original vampire. Meg hadn't seen all of it. She had seen Drake, and felt the utter loss of humanity as he awakened the thirst within her. But the vaccine had come through in the end and after Drake's death and Blade's near-miss, they'd cured her only to discover that some things couldn't be undone.

Meg was mostly human now. She'd retained pieces and parts of Blade's DNA within her own, a lasting consequence of his bite. The most visible were her eyes, the striking hazel that matched his own. There were other things too, but they hadn't discovered all of them yet. Neither of them really wanted to know.

Her head rested heavily against Hannibal's shoulder but he didn't shrug away from the weight. "Meg."

"Has he called?"

He hides the sudden disappointment before she can see it. "Not yet. I was just headed up this way to wake you. It's sunset."

"Sunset." Meg is trying to focus on his voice but all she can hear is the steady thrum of his heartbeat.

"Yeah, sleepy. Time to wake up." He's trying for a gentle teasing but Meg loses the words beneath the pulse of blood.

He can't see the dilation of her pupils in the darkness or sense the tug of war as she tries to reassert control over the beast that is still inside of her.

She fights with herself and finally pulls away from him. Her control is tenuous at first but finally she locks away that part of her and manages to look at Hannibal more clearly. He is already dressed for ass-kicking with a new set of body armor and a pair of khaki pants that have seen better days. He's wearing a new name badge that says SMILE! in bright cheerful letters.

"How long until we go?"

"Just waiting on you, darling."

She frowns and slides out of bed with nothing on but a slender silver chain around her neck. Hannibal chokes slightly as she reaches for clothes that are waiting on the dresser. Then she turns and gives him a slight smile. "Would you tell the others that I'm coming?"

He shakes his head as he steps past her and toward the light of the room beyond. "See, now that's just not even fair."

"Three minutes."

He grumbles something in reply and pulls the door shut behind him. Meg doesn't waste any time in flipping on the lights and heading to the small wash basin in her room. She's too pale, she can see it in the mirror and in the dark circles that are ringing her eyes. Things weren't this bad before Blade left. But since he walked out on them, she's been fighting with the dread that something awful is coming.

She splashes water through her hair and over her face, hoping that it will shock some of the beast back into the darkness. Tonight is the first night that they've had a sizable quantity of Daystar to disperse.

They've been doing tiny raids and dispersals all over Los Angeles but nothing as big as what they have planned now. Her blood finally loses some of the sluggishness of sleep and starts to quicken as she braids her hair away from her face. No matter what happens, tonight vampires will die.

The van pulls up outside of the warehouse. Lights are flickering inside. Calder is driving and looks worried as they see the lot full of cars surrounded the building.

"That's a lot of vampires."

"No sweat." Hannibal jokes. "As soon as they see me dance they'll beg for death."

Abby gives him a quirked eyebrow and hefts the small canister that's on the floorboards between her and Meg. "It should still be enough."

Calder nods but doesn't look relieved. "As long as nothing goes wrong."

"Nothing will go wrong." Abby says. "We don't need Blade for everything."

Meg tenses slightly. They've had more than a few runs of bad luck lately, including Abby spending a night in jail for a botched run and concealed weapons charges. But she is full of mixed emotions. On one hand she hunted successfully without Blade for a long time, but on the other she's afraid to admit just how much she misses and needs him. Hannibal and Abby don't understand the depth of their connection or how much it hurts her that he left her behind.

"Let's get going." She says to allay anymore thoughts that she doesn't want to think.

The three of them step out of the vehicle. Hannibal has holstered automatics on either thigh and a shotgun slung over his back. Abby has left her bow in favor of more close-range weapons, her hidden knives and two really big pistols. She hands the canister to Hannibal as Meg joins them.

Meg's dark hair is tightly braided and secured with black cord. Although her black pants are more tactical than Abby's, they are form fitting underneath a white shirt emblazoned with a massive black Samurai. Her asp is present again on one calf and in a concession to Hannibal she's also got two of the electronic pistols that the Nightstalkers invented.

She turns and scans the building. No guards, which is strange, but vampires have been feeling confident lately. The FBI had disseminated the information that Blade was dead and the undead lapped it up without question. Their overconfidence would be their downfall tonight.

"Ladies?" Hannibal says gallantly. "After you."

"Why are we going first?" Meg says softly to Abby.

Abby's eyes are already cold. "Because we're better at this."

"Wait." Calder hands a long linked cord of light grenades to them. "Don't forget these."

It's easy to get inside the warehouse. Too easy. If Abby could bristle she'd be twice her normal size and Meg can feel the uneasiness emanating from her. The heady emotion is distracting and she sidesteps away from the other woman.

Hannibal is alternating between checking out several half-naked vampires and keeping close to them.

"Are you having fun?" Abby asks him.

He grins. "Hey! No harm in looking."

"Pay attention to the job." Abby scans the floor and picks a clear spot where dissemination should cover the entire warehouse. "Meg, cover the exits. I'll set off Daystar in two minutes."

Meg nods but her skin is crawling as well. Some of Abby's wariness has transferred to her and she's just as concerned. There is something odd about the warehouse even though she can't put her finger on what it is. Hannibal claps her on the shoulder as her eyes catch sight of a huge blood wrestling pit on the floor. Vampires inside it are slipping around as the crowd cheers around them.

"Meg?"

"What?" Her eyes stay focused on the pit.

"Could you place a bet for me?"

His joking manner breaks her attention and she gives him a rough push. "Jesus, King."

They split up. Meg is staying near the exits, Hannibal going deep inside to push the confusion toward the women, and Abby doing the most dangerous and central part of their plan – dissemination of Daystar.

Meg pushes her way through the crowd as she tries to find a good spot to set off the light grenades. She can hear Hannibal saying something to Abby but can't catch the words, her focus isn't as tight as she'd like it to be. Vampires are shoving her from every side as they dance frenetically. The beat is the same tempo as her heartbeat and she can feel it throb all around her.

She staggers as someone slams into her and her asp is in her hand before she realizes it.

_"Meg."_

She doesn't recognize the voice at first. In fact she can't tell if she even heard it from the crowd or over her headset.

"What did you say?" She queries.

"Nothing." Hannibal replies. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing." Meg says and spins, looking fiercely at the crowd around her. No one is paying very much attention to her as her scent is still vampire enough to throw them off. She moves up a small set of stairs and checks her watch. Less than 30 seconds before Abby detonates the canister.

The lights start to flicker all around them - a laser show. Muffled shouts from the crowd as they dance in glee under the momentary darkness. Then, through the fading lights Meg sees him.

She doesn't believe her eyes at first. He's watching her from less than thirty feet away, his dark eyes completely aware of what she's carrying but absolutely unworried. He's in a white shirt with dark pants and looks so much older than the last time she'd seen him. That she's seeing him at all is so surprising that she can't turn away.

Meg chokes as she starts to step away. His gaze tightens and in that moment - his look slashes through her heart and the bottom falls out before she can catch it.

There is something in his face that tells her he is just as stunned as she is. They are motionless even as the warehouse fills with screams and gunfire around them.

A group of fleeing vampires crash into her and she slips and falls beneath them. It breaks the moment into a strange fragmented sensation and she fights her way from under them with her asp as their ash explodes outward. Other panicked vamps screams and stampede away from the explosion of ash and sparks as Meg gets back to her feet.

He's gone.

She wastes vital seconds searching but he's vanished.

"Meg!" This time it is Hannibal shouting over her earpiece.

With a single fluid movement she pulls the cable from the grenades and heaves them toward the dance floor, covering her own eyes as the first grenade blows and then the rest. UV light explodes outward taking the oncoming wave of vampires with it.

Those that survived the grenades soon succumb to Daystar, choking and screaming as the virus destroys their red blood cells. They've cleared an entire warehouse full of vampires in minutes, leaving only a few familiars and other victims. Hannibal and Abby are headed toward Meg, both erring on the side of anger.

"What the hell was that about!" Abby demands. "We lost a few because you were late."

Meg shakes her head softly. "I thought I saw him."

"Blade?" Hannibal asks, its been the only thing on her mind lately.

"No…" she says softly. "Drake."


	2. Chapter 2

Wow. Got hurt, which slowed up my typing quite a bit. Sorry about the major delay. Thanks again for the reviews and if anybody has any thoughts/contributions/criticisms let me know. Thanks!

* * *

Chapter 2 

Meg is standing alone outside of the Nightstalker's new headquarters. Her skin is still flushed with anger, the red a startling contrast to her pale skin and dark hair. The conversation inside didn't go too well.

Abby didn't believe her. Which wasn't surprising, the other woman didn't trust Meg, hadn't since she found out that Blade had spared her life against Whistler's wishes. Usually they had an uneasy truce, but it had gotten harder since Blade left and they suddenly had to rely on each other.

The decision she was weighing wasn't one that made her any happier than normal, but it was starting to seem like the only alternative.

"Meg?" Hannibal's voice didn't startle her, she'd heard his footsteps the minute he left the warehouse.

She turned to look at him and he grinned, she didn't smile back.

"You know I always had this fantasy about living with dominant women."

Her silence throws him off.

"But it's not really all that fun."

Meg shrugs. "She's used to running the show. And I'm used to following my own lead."

"You followed Blade." His remark stings even though he didn't mean it that way.

Her face darkens slightly and Hannibal reaches out with one hand. "I…"

"It's okay."

"Why did he leave? The real reason."

The question makes her shiver. She was trying not to think about that, because it involved Blade and Drake in the answer and was so very much tied into her dreams.

"He left because of me." Her voice is very soft. "Because he found out that I made a choice of survival."

"And?"

Her limbs are suddenly twitching with the desire to move and she strides away from him, Hannibal's long legs easily catching up to her.

"It was in the Talos building." Meg says quietly. "Right after I blew their computer system. _He_ came for me."

"Drake." Is all he says in quiet affirmation.

"He knew that I was of Blade's lineage. A vampire born of a Daywalker and he decided that I didn't really know the truth of my heritage." Her breath catches at the memory. "He staked me against the desk. A fatal wound….. for any normal vampire."

"But you weren't any vampire."

"No, I wasn't."

Their feet crunch through the gravel, a loud desecration of the night. Meg could care less, if anything she wants to run faster away from these memories.

After a long pause she continues. "I had a choice, give in to the thirst or fight it. And if I fought it I would become worse than them, mindless with the need. I tried to pick the lesser evil. And Blade didn't forgive me for it."

Hannibal grabs her arm and spins her to a halt. "Now wait a minute. Anyone who's been saved by the cure has known the thirst. What's so different between you and us?"

"Blade and I had a deal. Break it and he'd ash me. The problem was that Karen gave me the cure before he found out the truth."

"And now you're human."

"That's what I keep telling myself but I don't believe it." Meg looks up at him and feel sorry for what she's about to do to all of them. "My dreams are about the thirst. Even now I can sense the pulse in your neck and the way all humans smell like meat."

He shrinks back slightly. "So we make you an inhaler like Blade's."

"It doesn't work that way."

"Why not?"

"Look." Her tone grows harsh. "It's fine that Abby wants to think that Drake was a delusion of mine, but I know differently. Drake's the reason my thirst is growing and the reason that Blade left. When the body disappeared he went to track it down and destroy it. Because maybe that will stop what's happening to me."

"Why did he leave you behind?"

"Because he doesn't trust me either."

* * *

Hannibal is sitting in the middle of the Nightstalker base. He hasn't decided yet whether to tell Abby everything or to keep it to himself. Regardless of whether or not he likes either woman, this situation reeks of complications and some of it was told in confidence. He doesn't want to burn his bridges with Meg, or Blade either.

He's flipping a knife back and forth through his fingers and letting it thunk into the floor every third spin. He pulls the blade back out of the wood and flips it again. Johnny is watching him from where he's working on their gigantic Expedition, installing tiny spray nozzles that they can use to disperse Daystar.

"You got women problems?"

Hannibal shrugs. "I'm gonna get a sign. Only complicated women need apply."

"Yeah, chicks in this line of work gotta be a little crazy."

"But not the men?" Abby's comment makes them both jump. She's been on edge since Drake killed Zoe's mother and stole Zoe and Hannibal. When the little girl left to live with an aunt, another piece of her heart hardened.

"Its testosterone, protects the brain by numbing it." Hannibal tries.

Abby frowns darkly at the both of them. "Get rigged up. We're going out tonight."

"With Meg?" Johnny asks and recoils at the hard look she gives him. "Or not."

Hannibal retrieves his blade and snugs it back into the holster. "You know, this was always what I was better at. Killing things. Good thing I don't need a day job."

"Where is Meg?" Abby asks as she begins to load pistol shells into her belt.

The windows shatter as light and pressure burst them inward. Glass flies everywhere and the Nightstalkers hit the ground arms over their heads.

* * *

Outside, Meg is thrown backward by the concussive blast. Everything dissolves into white pain and blindness. Her eyes are normally sensitive and now, there is nothing that she can do. No way to see past the blindness of a vampire weapon turned against them.

Footsteps crunch through the gravel and she swivels, eyes wide and unseeing toward the sound.

One hand starts to sweep toward her asp but she waits. Distance attacks won't work and she can only operate on the assumption that she's alone. Whatever she does will have to be in close and brutal – so that she can _feel_ where to strike.

His steps get closer. A man's because of their weight. She lunges upward, kicking out with the same motion but her leg swings through empty air. Her balance teeters for a moment but she follows through the movement and manages to catch him with a wild blow. Turning on his position she presses forward. For every blow she lands, he is landing his own and her arms bruise under the attack. She can't stop though, can't afford to back off and nurse the injuries.

Her fingers wrap in the heavy leather jacket and her nose wrinkles as she catches a whiff of something familiar. The scent is harder to identify without a source of reference and the blows haven't let up.

One fist hits her hard across the diaphraghm and her breath stops dead in her chest. She staggers back, reaching for her asp, trying at this last moment to defend herself even as her body betrays her with its inability to breathe.

The attacker grabs her hair, she can feel his fingers pulling her throat back even as her eyes finally start to recover and show black dots against a hazy visual background.

"Would you beg?" Came a harsh yet familiar voice.

She manages to get her middle finger up in strident defiance.

"You put too much trust in the humans around you." There was a strange clicking from behind her but Meg couldn't twist in the iron grip. She was starting to see things around her and the vague shape of the warehouse door as it opened and disgorged five blobby figures that she assumed to be the Nighstalkers. "Don't you, Meg?"

The hand releases her and she lunges backward, both elbows jabbing and two backwards kicks to the shins that connected. Survival wasn't nearly as potent a motivator as rage was.

"You asshole!" Her breath came out in sharp accusations. "You bastard! Was that a fucking joke!"

Blade takes the onslaught and finally manages to get back inside her guard. He is in a good mood and spars with her, their fight faster than any of the humans could ever have reached. Meg hadn't given up all of the vampire attributes. She is fast – but Blade is faster.

His hand shot out and caught her around the neck. She struggled for a second, but his fingers cut into her circulation and her vision swam, not with light, but with blood pressure as it dropped off.

He released her and she drops to the ground as the Nightstalkers jogged up.

"What the fuck was that?" Hannibal demanded. "We thought World War III was starting!"

Blade fixed his gaze on him and then extended one hand out to Meg. With a glare and her own fingers massaging her neck she gets to her feet by herself.

"I assume you were trying to make a point." Abby said more calmly for the benefit of the others. "But I'm not sure what it was supposed to be."

"You're vulnerable. All of you."

Johnny's voice was overly optimistic. "Yeah man, but that's what Daystar is for."

"You people don't know a thing about fighting vampires."

"Well, why don't you enlighten us, oh Great Buddha of Knowledge." Hannibal is embarrassed as soon as it came out of his mouth. "Okay, the adrenaline is still going."

"Blade?" Meg's voice is harsh and her eyes are still pinpoint pupils from the exposure. "What's going on?"

He softened then and although Meg couldn't see it there was something infinitely sad in his eyes. For those who could see it, it was how close he had been to killing her and ending everything right there.

"They have a vaccine for Daystar."

Abby almost fell over. "They couldn't have one! It was 100 effective after we mixed it with Drake's blood."

"Unless Drake survived."

Blade nodded at Meg's soft admission. "Antibodies."

"Wait a minute!" Hannibal moved to Meg's side, offering comfort that she felt and Blade noticed darkly. "He's alive then."

"Oh shit." Calder cursed loud enough for them all to hear.

"So why do you look so happy?" Hannibal demanded.

"Because this is what I do best." Blade made a slight motion with his head, and Meg – still off-kilter – moved to his side. He turned back toward the others and tossed something at Hannibal who snatched it out of the air before it could hit him. Keys.

"Wha…?"

Blade grinned suddenly, a flash of white teeth as the others stared after him in shock. "Go park my car."

Then he turned to usher Meg back into the warehouse leaving the Nighstalkers still confused about the sudden change of events.

"I really hate him." Hannibal said finally.

Abby looked at him without humor. "Be quick about it." She strode after Blade with Calder, Johnny and Twist at her heels.

"You know!" He shouted after her. "I hate you too, somedays." She didn't respond and Hannibal sighed as he looked at the keys in his hand. "Fuck."

"Don't scratch it!"

Hannibal was a millisecond away from drawing on Johnny when he saw Abby slap the other man on the back of the head. Grumbling he turned toward Blade's Charger. He'd rather deal with an inanimate object than what was going to happen inside.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

He ignores all of them at first, gathering his thoughts and what exactly he's going to say. Meg is sitting at the picnic table, the whites of her eyes dark with broken blood vessels. He hadn't known she would be so affected by the blast – but he should have. He can feel the changes on her skin and it makes him remember how he used to hunt vampires. Some things have started to dull with time, or fatigue, some days he can't tell the difference. Losing Whistler has weighed more heavily on him than anything he'd imagined.

He takes his time collecting his thoughts. These humans that Whistler thought would take his place are just sad shadows. Blade can't count on them, can't count on a single one, not even Whistler's daughter. She hasn't learned yet, hasn't managed to take all the rage and turn it into something useful, she's just another child. Maybe that was how Whistler was in the beginning – all Blade knows is that he doesn't have the time to teach her how to be like her father – especially not anymore.

Calder and Abby are waiting.

"Are you sure about a vaccine? Maybe the batch of Daystar was contaminated. Or…" Calder starts.

Blade shakes his head minutely. "I saw the vaccination lines. Hundreds of them."

"And you didn't ash them?" Abby challenges.

"I was hunting bigger fish."

"Drake." Meg answers for all of them. It's not the way she wanted to be vindicated but there it is. Abby has doubted her every moment of every day and Abby was wrong. But the sudden thrill that runs along her spine is as frightening as the moment she thought she was going to die. If he's alive…

Calder is moving, already thinking of the ramifications of Blade's revelation. "I'll halt production." Abby spins toward him in surprise as he continues. "It's a huge financial drain. If it doesn't work, then we need to redirect the funds."

Abby's irritation is evident. "Fine. You do that." She turns to Blade, still unwilling to relinquish her position. "Did you find him? Did you find Drake?"

"No."

"Then how are you sure? We watched him die, Blade. The feds took his body and the vamps stole it back. But he was dead. Sure, Meg's seeing him in shadows but…"

He spins on Meg. His entire attitude has just changed, grown more serious, and given Abby the answer she was looking for. Drake is alive. "You saw him? When?"

"Last night."

Abby starts to speak as he reaches down and pulls Meg to her feet. "You should…"

He ignores her.

Hannibal slams in through the door a little surprised by the lack of violence and mayhem. He grins at Meg and dangles Blade's keys from his fingers. "Alright, I parked your car. What's going on?"

"Go get it. We're leaving."

King goggles a bit at Blade. "Leaving? What? I'm a little lost here. Now, normally I wouldn't complain but this is getting…"

"Now." Blade's growl has lost any patience it might have had. Hannibal turns back to the door grumbling about parking attendants and vampire hunters.

Blade turns to Abby perfunctorily. "There are some things you don't understand."

"Then explain it, Blade. We're supposed to be working _with_ you."

"Like I told you before. I don't need your help."

But Abby pushes. "Then why are you taking her?"

Blade's lips pull back over his teeth, a vampire habit. "Because she's the bait." He pauses, his eyes still hidden behind his sunglasses. "If you're so eager to die. Come on then."

Meg's pushed off her momentary disorientation and her own anger is starting to build. She's not some useless piece of meat. She snatches her arm away from Blade with a sudden hiss, he might have thrown her off with the attack, but she's done with the bullshit. Her life has been ruined since she made the choice to follow him down an alleyway, the least he can do is respect her.

"It wasn't you who took him down. It was Daystar. How will you fight him now?"

"You." He says the word like she should already know what he intends. And frighteningly, she does.

"What?" But the word is more reflex than question.

"You knew he was back."

"Yes."

He steps in close to her, so close that she can smell the faint hint of garlic on his breath and the way it doesn't fit with him. What fits is a mixture of sunlight and darkness, life and death, and the utter surety that he holds both for her. This close, his presence makes her faint, almost in the same way that Drake does. Meg would have followed him until the end of the world until he left her. A betrayal because he held her to higher ideals than even he could follow.

Their eyes lock through the slim barrier of his sunglasses. He won't remove them to let her see his eyes. Or the choices that he's made as that are reflected within them.

Then he turns away, towards Abby. "Vampire pheromones. Like the Reapers, he's giving off pheromones, calling them to him. He was content to watch when Talos woke him. He's not content any longer. They're gathering forces, all of them, for an all-out war."

"Why Meg?" Abby persists. "Why call her?"

Blade doesn't answer at first, maybe searching for the words.

Meg's quiet voice resounds in the room. There is a flushed look to her cheeks, something in between horror and truth, of what she is and what she has become. "A vampire born of a Daywalker and cured. Now, I'm none of them and all of them."

He nods his head, a sharp jerk of agreement. "They've spent years searching for a way to perfect the vampire race. For a long time they thought infusing my blood was the key." His fingertips brush against the faint white scars on her neck, the scars he gave her that are only visible to vampire-attuned eyes. "But now there's Meg. A bridge between all three species."

"Neither vampire, nor Daywalker, nor human."

Abby's eyes widen. "The future of our race…. he meant Meg." Her hand drops to the huge pistol on her belt.

Blade gestures for her to put it away but Meg's anger has risen again, strong and volatile against the other woman. "I won't be used. Not by you. Not by Blade. Not anymore."

"He'll bleed you dry for what your blood contains."

"I won't be used."

Abby continues without stopping. "And they'll use your DNA to start a new race one that's not bound to blood. Invulnerable to silver, or garlic, or sunlight. And they'll out-compete the rest of us."

Johnny is staring at Abby and Blade aghast. He's starting to understand where this conversation is going, and heroically, he steps in. "You have to run, Meg. Hide until its safe."

"It will never be safe." Meg steps towards Blade, torn between the desire to move toward him for comfort or to flee. "Not until I'm dead."

Johnny protests but she never hears him. She reaches for Blade's chest, her hand pressing against his linked black armor. He's wearing all black again, no longer taking her advice on anything. Her revelation has broken the bond between them, but it hasn't been a clean break and they both are still ragged around the edges.

"Do it. Kill me." She gasps as a six-inch silver knife is laying along the edge of her throat before she can draw another breath. She didn't really think he'd do it, but his eyes contain the horrible fact that he's drawing close to making the very same decision.

"I can't protect you _and_ fight him."

"I'm not asking you to." Meg closes her eyes suddenly, all too aware that she is tired of seeing her reflection in his sunglasses. He uses them as a barrier and she is so tired of it. "What are you planning?"

"To draw him out."

"With me as bait."

"If I was wrong," he says quietly. "And you could defend yourself against him then things might be different."

"I can't. Not now." She smiles sadly as he withdraws his knife and resheathes it. "Funny how so many things hinge on a single choice."

Hannibal trips back in through the door. "Okay. I'm here. What did I miss?"

He looks in confusion at the shocked looks on the faces around him. "Abby?" But the three humans turn in walk away from him, there are some things that are almost too painful to repeat.

It's Blade who finally speaks, his eyes cold and full of unanswered regrets as he watches Meg walk away from him. "Just the end of her world."

"Meg?"

"Yes."

"You really do screw up every relationship you're in? Don't you?"

For the first time Hannibal is frightened, not because Blade gives him that look, but because he doesn't. The Daywalker turns and walks into the building as Hannibal stands alone in the center of the floor and wonders what the hell he really missed.


	4. Chapter 4

Thanks Zelinia and Lil Cwick for all the feedback. I appreciate all the interest and the reviews. I hope that Chapter 4 keeps the story interesting. Let me know either way. :)

* * *

Chapter 4

They'd gotten bold.

This street on the wrong side of LA is swarming with vampires. In a place that hasn't seen human law enforcement in a very long time. If there are humans here they are familiars, or food.

Everything here is meant to be peddled to the undead and it is a display that neither Meg nor Blade ever thought they would see. Not only is Drake calling vampires to him, but he's imbued them with a sense of boldness that is frightening. These vampires are not afraid of anything.

Meg stops at the edge of the street, Blade is a few feet behind her his face expressionless.

"So it's time to make some noise."

"Yes."

A flicker of pain crosses her face. "I'm sorry."

He doesn't say anything. Meg didn't really expect him to. She closes her eyes and takes another step forward. This time she really is the bait and for the first time in her life she's uncertain about why she's agreed to this. She doesn't want to die anymore, and yet, Blade isn't giving her any other choice.

She emerges from the shadows and a few vamps glance up at her, curious.

She's dressed for battle. Black pants hung with silver stakes and leather boots with the shiny tips of her asps peeking out from each side. A sleeveless scarlet top and additional silver stakes around her waist. And on top of all of it, leather sleeves and gloves lined with silver spikes that connect by a slender buckle across her shoulders. She feels ridiculous, she's never hunted like this before, but all the glitter is a distraction and meant to keep the focus on her while the Nightstalkers move into position around the street.

"What have we got here?" A gigantic man detaches from one of the buildings, leering at Meg with a flash of canines. "A little girl with a death wish."

"Something like that." And Meg's first stake buries in the vamp's chest. His ash lighting up the street for a brief moment before the shouting starts.

* * *

_"Why are you letting him push you into this?" Hannibal followed her into her room. She's not looking at him, not looking at much of anything except the black spots that keep dancing in front of her eyes telling her that she's going to die soon._

_"We'll lose this war if Drake lives."_

_"This isn't the only solution. Dammit, Meg, you don't have to die."_

_She smiles sadly even though he can't see it. Hannibal always was too nice for his own good, he's never understood how eminently practical Blade could be. "But it's easier this way."_

_"Meg." He tries to touch her back and she twists away from the caress._

_"Don't. You're in love with Abby, not me."_

_"I…" He wasn't expecting the truth from her. "Goddammit, I…I'm sorry."_

_"All my life I've never been what anyone wanted. With Cord, I wasn't a vampire. With Blade, I wasn't human enough. And with you, I'm not her. Maybe this is the best way to solve all our problems."_

_"No." This time he grabs a hold of her and spins her. Meg's never seen Hannibal angry and for a moment she realizes that he might just be growing up. "You can't give up."_

_

* * *

_

The first flood of vampires is almost overwhelming. Meg is faster than she was, faster than any human has the right to be, but she's still staggering under the onslaught. Her asps are secure in the base of her hands and she telescopes them out with a brief snap of the wrist. Now they're a foot and a half of customized silver steel, sharpened to razor points and lethal in the hands of a master.

She spins, slashing at the vampires around her. Her movement leaving a trail of ash behind her. She punches one who gets to close and he staggers, taking several others down. Meg buries one asp in a vamp's chest and throws her stakes as fast as she can. Two miss, but three hit, ashing the vampires who've caught them. She ducks a sword aimed at her head and retrieves her asp, thrusting it up through the abdomen of the sword bearer. He screams and drops the sword as he flickers into fire and dies.

Others are realizing the danger they're in as the Nightstalkers and Blade come in from the sides. Some of Meg's attackers turn to deal with this new threat. Hannibal is wading into the thick of the street with his huge three-barreled shotgun. Blade is using his sword to carve a path and Abby is standing on the top of a truck and calmly picking off vampires with her bow. Every snap of the string is so powerful that Meg can hear it. There are others fighting as well, she can hear them, and see as Twist goes down underneath a horde of women with blood covering his face and chest.

She winces and fends off a hideous looking vampire transvestite. She hits him so hard that her asp punches all the way through him. A blow lands from behind before she can pull free and she goes to her knees in the midst of the battle.

* * *

_She's dressing alone, Hannibal has given up on talking her out of what they're about to do. He tried and that alone makes Meg sad, no one else had bothered. She's buckling the heavy boots and securing the sheaths when she hears the door open. _

_"What?" The word comes out harsher than she meant it too._

_"Every one who has gotten close to me has died. I don't know why I thought it would be different with you."_

_"You pushed all of those people away, Blade." She turns slowly to look at him and her heart breaks at the sight. For once he's removed his sunglasses so that he can look at her. Amber on amber. "You pushed me away."_

_"I told you that you were going to get yourself killed."_

_Her eyes narrow. "Yes, you did. It was always borrowed time then."_

_He reaches out for her and for a second Meg thinks that it might a peace offering. It's not. A tiny personal explosive device is nestled within his palm. She remembers that Whistler was working on them, a guarantee if someone was bitten, that they'd never rise to turn. It's obvious what use he intends it for._

_"If this doesn't work. You know what you need to do."_

_"And you'll have me by remote if I don't."_

_He nods curtly. "Prove me wrong. Fight like you've never fought before."_

_She slips the bomb into her pocket and tries to think of the words she wants to say, but they slip out of her mind and fall flat on the floor, unspoken._

_

* * *

_

Her stumble should have been fatal but her attacker shrieks as an electronic bullet slices through his spinal cord and lights him up. Hannibal drags her to her feet and she wavers for a second before regaining her balance.

"No sleeping on the job!" He jokes as they start forward again.

Minutes pass. Yet for every vampire they ash, they are always more, and the humans are starting to get tired.

"Where are they coming from?"

Meg shrugs, which turns into a block and uppercut against another vampire hoodlum whose come against her. "Where are your light grenades?"

"Used 'em all." He grunts as he clotheslines two others.

She is reaching for another stake when she _feels_ everything change.

"Hannibal." The word is said quieter than the ambient noise of the street but he hears her and looks back startled.

"What's…?"

"Run." Her skin crawls with the knowledge that they've been played for the fools. He knew she would come looking for him with Blade and the Nightstalkers at her side. It's a trap.

Vampires boil out of the darkness. Thousands of vampires against twelve humans, one Daywalker, and Meg - who no longer counts as either. The first wave crests against Blade who is fighting faster than the eye can follow. Every movement is utterly brutal and efficient, he kills with the same economy that he breathes.

Hannibal sprays the vampires around them with bullets as they start to retreat. Meg elbows a vampire in the head so hard that she punctures his eye with a silver quill from her sleeves and follows him. Their battle is turning quickly into a rout.

"There are too many!" He shouts at her.

"Go!" She shouts back. "Blade and I have…"

"_Margaret_." His deep voice chills her and she freezes.

Although it frightens her as much as it thrills her, she turns to look. Drake is walking toward her, brushing through the fighting as though it means nothing. He's abandoned the white shirt in favor of a darker look, black-on-black, and a dark chain around his neck. He looks much more serious now with the touch of grey in his hair, a reminder that this world is truly a threat to him.

"I remember you."

Meg is still frozen as a series of light bombs go off around them, blinding her for a moment. She blinks and when she looks up, he is still there.

"That's not my name." It's barely a whisper of protest but its all she can think to do.

He's already so close to her that he doesn't even have to move to touch her. She trembles as he slices through the leather buckle and peels the sleeves from her arms. His touch is so very gentle as he examines the empty stake sheath around her waist and cuts that free as well. And then, he reaches out and takes the asps from her hands and lets them fall as well.

"Get away from her!" Hannibal charges at them.

Drakes catches him around the throat, casually, without trying as his eyes remain focused on Meg. "You were a sacrifice. Why would he give you up so easily?"

With his free hand he reaches down and retrieves the small bomb.

Distantly Meg can hear Hannibal gasping for air, and the shouts of Blade and Abby as they try to reach her. Blade breaking through a wall of ash as he fights his way toward them.

Drake examines it and then crushes it between his fingers. The tiny metallic remnants falling between them. Then he starts to squeeze his hand around Hannibal's throat and this jars Meg out of her surprise.

"No," she reaches up and tries to pull Hannibal free. "No, not this."

He focuses those eyes on her and Meg realizes that she is losing this battle that was never really a battle at all.

"What do you see when you look at me?"

"A vampire." She hisses.

"I am so much more than that." He loosens his grip on Hannibal as he draws closer to her. His voice getting husky with emotion. "With me, Meg, you will never have to pretend."

The words echo through her skull.

* * *

_Blade rocks away from her as she finally confesses the truth to him. He already knew it but had to hear it for himself. Meg is shaking as she whispers the words that mean her promise was broken but only at great cost. Her promise or her life, and she had chosen the way._

_"After everything." He says quietly. "You would have hid this from me."_

_"Blade," she protests. "I had no choice. I was dying."_

_"If you feed the thirst you are no better than they are." He stands abruptly and turns away from her, his bare back covered in the intricate tattoos that are his life. She should have been included in there, but now, that hope vanished as quickly as fire dies without oxygen._

_"I love you." It wasn't even a whisper._

_"You're just like them. You don't deserve to live."_

_"What was I supposed to have done?" She screams at him. "You were the one who turned me!"_

_"You were supposed to be better than me."_

_

* * *

_

Drake's words echo as though there was real weight to them and a tangible substance that she could feel. _You will never have to pretend._

"Come with me." He extends his hand to her and Meg reaches for it automatically.

"No. Meg. Don't. Do." Hannibal chokes out.

Drake drops him, and as Hannibal hits the pavement, slashes out with razor edged nails. They cut through the soft tissue of Hannibal's neck and cheek and blood fountains out. He staggers back, grabbing at the wound, trips and falls.

Meg's scream shocks her into action and she dives for Hannibal, her hands pressing against the spurt of blood crashing into her palm. She fumbles for the coag he's carrying and tries to coat the wound with it, but there is so much blood that it's washing the chemical away faster than she can put it on. Blood is oozing between her fingers and she can't hear for the screaming in her head and the terrible fear that she's killed him.

"No. Oh god, Hannibal…"

He tries to speak but only blood pours out of his mouth.

"Shhh." She tries to press harder and feels one finger go through the membrane of his cheek. She fumbles again with the coag trying to get the entire wound as Drake reaches for her.

Hannibal tries to shout at the vampire as Drake draws Meg away from him, but he goes faint with the renewed pulse of blood and clamps his own fingers over the spot in desperation. His hands are too slippery and suddenly everything seems so incredibly difficult. Black dots start burning before his eyes. Blade and Abby are still fighting their way toward him even as the vampire forces begin to withdraw.

He's barely hanging on as he hears Abby screaming his name. He looks toward Meg. Her amber eyes are full of tears and they spill over her cheeks to mix with the blood that is streaked all over her. And in a way, he's glad that she's leaving, as another ounce of blood pushes past his fingers and he collapses into darkness.


	5. Chapter 5

Okay, this is it.

* * *

Painful silence. 

The hiss of an inhaler.

The kick. The burn. The bitter relief as the thirst quiets and then fades. But this cure can't fix the other anguish inside of him. One that he helped create. He couldn't kill Whistler when he was bitten, and he couldn't kill Meg even as that bastard took her. Blade grimaces and drives his hands into his thighs again as though physical pain could solve everything.

He hates this place around him almost as much as he hates being forced to suffer here.

_God, he misses her._

She was so different. Even though she knew Japanese fighting styles; aikido, judo – she'd never fought with them. Her hunting style was the embodiment of the philosophy, use the path of least resistance. He'd never seen anything like it. Never realized that you could fall in love with a woman because of it.

_It was all his fault._

Damn Whistler and his insistence that they could only count on each other. Meg had been there, young and so painfully willing. He'd destroyed everything over a silly ideal that never made any sense. He'd forced her into becoming a vampire, forced her to survive once she was one, but yet he'd expected her not to be one. She was the only woman who had ever taken the conflicting spheres of normalcy and insanity and made him believe that there could be a place between the two.

_And he never said a word._

His fingers dig into his thighs until blood runs. The choices that _he_ made turned her life towards this fate. His fault, and hers for trying to love him.

"Blade?" Questioned Abby's voice softly.

"Get out."

"So you can sulk some more?" She's angry, her tone biting and harsh, a lot like his own voice.

"I don't sulk."

"She almost killed him."

Blade shakes his head wearily. Hannibal was never in any danger except for the moment he tried to stop Drake from taking Meg. "He only wanted her."

"Why?"

"Because she's perfect." The words are painful. He's fought vampires all his life and he's given them the weapon they need to use against him. The weapon that will end everything. Blade is suddenly so very tired, and like a curse, the thirst feeds off that darkness so that he can already taste it growing on the back of his tongue. "She is sensitive to light and silver, but it won't kill her. They'll use that to step up their operations. To become more powerful."

"But she feels the thirst."

"It's like an addiction to her, but she doesn't need it."

"I've never seen so many vampires." He says it like an afterthought as he reaches out to grasp the katana from its stand. "They're growing despite everything we do."

"We have to stop them." Abby is persistent and he nods finally, replacing the sword.

But he doesn't speak then and he doesn't use all the rage the way he's told Abby to use it. This time he takes it and buries it downward where he will be the only one to see it. Meg has made him vulnerable and that can't happen, even as he wishes it would.

_He loves her._

Bury all those thoughts away so that the real business can be done. Killing vampires.

He slides his sunglasses on and finally faces Abby. She is still covered in Hannibal's blood, weaponless so that she could get him inside the Emergency Room.

"What are you going to do?"

"I'm going to find out where they're gathering."

"And me?"

"Call Karen." He doesn't want to think about the darkness eating through his soul. "She'll know how to make a poison."

"To kill Drake?"

"To kill Meg before they can use her."

"You couldn't kill her before."

He doesn't answer. Only takes his sword and leaves in a flash of black cloak and anger. He's not entirely sure that he'll be able to this time, no matter how deep he buries his feelings for her.

* * *

Abby surveys the weapons covering the table in front of her. This mission will need everything she can carry and then some. She's wearing a slender armored vest over a blue tank top and fitted cargo pants. An ammo belt is already circling her waist as Johnny approaches with one arm in a sling and the other covered in leaking bandages. 

"What are you doing?"

"Getting ready for war." She answers, gauging the weight difference between two small quivers or one large one. Knives are so much easier and she straps one to each calf.

"You can't take them on alone."

"Blade is going with me."

He snorts. He was there, he saw the sheer mass of vampires. "They won't withdraw this time."

"That doesn't matter."

She glances up as Calder walks out onto the balcony. His face is creased with unhappiness.

"And?"

He looks down at his clasped hands and gives a small nod. "Karen is almost finished. With a formula I'll be able to synthesize the compound here."

"Compound?" Johnny says softly. "Daystar didn't work."

"This one will." Abby answers tightly and grabs another knife to affix to her body armor. "This formula only needs to kill one." Calder's head drops deeper onto his chest as he hears those words, he doesn't like where this is headed.

"Meg?" Johnny is incredulous. "You're going to kill Meg? You can't! She's one of us."

"Not anymore." Abby is still sorting weapons, discarding a heavy pistol in favor of a modified electronic one with the UV bullets.

"What's going on?" Johnny has turned to Calder. "We can't be doing this. We're supposed to kill vampires."

"Drake can use Meg to make vampires stronger. We have to kill her before they can." He takes a deep breath. "Or we'll lose this war."

"If we start killing each other we have lost this war!"

Abby doesn't turn from her weapon choice as she gently lays each arrow shaft in the quiver. The feathers aren't perfect until she has them aligned for an easy draw. "I won't let them kill everyone I love. I won't be like my father. But that means I have to be more like Blade. No friends and nothing but dead enemies."

"Are you sure you want to make this choice? There's no going back."

She lays another arrow into place. "Let me know the minute you've synthesized the poison."

Calder nods and turns sadly. Although Abby might do the actually deed, it will be his work that leads her there. "God forgive us for what we have come to."

* * *

Meg is laying on the floor of the room. She hasn't noticed anything about it except for the fact that she left Hannibal to die on that street and didn't fight as she could have, didn't fight for him or any of the others who must have fallen. 

She trembles as a warm washcloth sponges away some of the blood of her hands. She tries to pull away and finds her hand caught. Drake has brought a small metal bowl of warm water that is sitting next to them both. His eyes are deep with something she never imagined possible in a vampire. He raises the cloth again and pulls it across her skin, leaving a trail of pink water that clutches at her heart. Hannibal's blood.

"Meg?" He asks gently and reaches to her face.

The touch makes her close her eyes but not just because of what has happened. It's just then that she realizes hours have passed. Dawn has long since risen outside of this place. Curtains are hiding most of the light but she can sense it, just as she can sense him across from her.

"Why?" She whispers as he continues his ministrations.

"Why what?" Drake asks. "Why did I strike down the man who tried to stop me? Or why did I take you?"

"I know why you struck Hannibal."

"The boy." Drake nods and finishes with one of her arms. Slowly he draws the other across her lap and starts on it. "The one from before. You kept their company. As you kept Blade's."

"We had the same purpose."

"Ah….purpose." His touch is so gentle that Meg is falling into the motion. His hand brushes her lips and her entire body moves with it. "Wait." A touch stops her and he finishes the broad swath of skin until it is clean. Meg looks up at him with awe-struck eyes, she feels like she's losing her mind.

"What have you done to me?"

"I could ask you the same question."

She didn't expect that. Didn't expect to hear such honesty from a vampire.

"You're a vampire." She tried to say it as an accusation but the words fell flat.

"I am. As you once were. Yet no cure will fix me."

Then it comes to her and she springs to her feet. Her hands reach for weapons that are no longer there. "My blood." She hisses. "I'll die before you take it."

He's already there at her side, his hands like iron grips on her arms until he wills himself to loosen the grip. They are walking a path that neither of them is used to and he reminds himself that this woman is different. If he wants her to stay with him forever, he will need to convince her mind of it even though her heart has already chosen.

"I didn't take you for your blood."

"But you know what I am."

"A hundred years or a thousand. How long would I have to wait for another woman like you? Especially when you were the first."

"You drove a stake through my chest." She reminds him, but he's so close that their heartbeats have already settled into a rhythm. She fights against it but she can feel it, as a deep throbbing through her bones.

"And forced you to make a choice. Life or death."

"Why?"

"Because I needed to find someone who would understand what I am…and chose me anyway."

She looks up at him and realizes that she is not alone in this sudden change of heart.

Drake reaches up to touch her with his bare hand and they both start at the sudden electricity of skin on skin. He pulls her closer and tilts her chin up toward him.

"You know exactly what I am."

"Yes." Her response is barely breathed.

"And I know what you are."

"Yes."

"No one will ever touch you. We can accomplish our goals without ever using a single drop of your blood."

"You will kill them all." Meg retains enough sense to remember this part. To remember all of the blood farms.

"My goals are different than Danica Talos' were." He reminds her gently, drawing her attention back to the present. "Completely different. Can you trust me?"

"I shouldn't." But she is already giving in. She's known since that initial glance. Her love for Blade was a slow gradual thing and Drake a flash-fire of emotion. There is no going back after this journey, whatever she decides will remain in her heart forever.

"Meg, you are the only one. Please……stay."

* * *

The hospital is full of muted whispers and the soft squeak of nurse's feet as they go about their duties. In a private room the man laying there has not regained consciousness which is probably the best thing. 

Hannibal King is swathed in heavy bandages all around his neck and head, those protecting the wounds and the intricate ventilator cords that secure the tube entering his throat. The emergency surgery managed to stop the bleeding and get enough donated blood into him that he pulled through but it wasn't an easy fix. Underneath the bandages are rows and rows of sutures criss-crossing his flesh and the new inability to breathe on his own.

Machines are now monitoring his body; breathing, heart-rate, status of life. But none of them can shut off the drug-induced circuit that is running over and over again in his sleeping mind. He won't remember any of it when he wakes, and for that he would be grateful. Each circuit shows him a different ending to the battle on the street and none of them end any better than the real one.

He is alone. Completely open to any kind of attack if one were to come. But gravely injured, he's no longer a threat.

The machines beep softly with the ventilator that keeps him breathing. The heart monitor with its jagged lines tracing across the screen and then starting all over again. If he'd been awake he would have wished to have Abby with him, to tell her the truth, about everything. But this room is empty even though he is alive.

The End

* * *

Thanks for all the feedback and reviews. This is the end of Blood-borne and I appreciate everyone who has read this far. 

The third story/sequel will be "**Heartstrings**" but will be more in the vein of No Pulse.

This one got bogged down a little bit with too much gloom. So back to a little bit more action and some new vampires.

Thanks again!


End file.
